


Let me touch you for a while

by wanderingsmith



Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 14:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2551364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'I can't do this anymore,' he thought to himself, slightly surprised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let me touch you for a while

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
> This was one of those single image ideas... that maybe should have been left on the drawing board?

Christmas had shown up at their little get-together with a couple bottles of some weirdass herby Swiss booze. It tasted weird, but it did leave a body relaxed. Which from anyone else, Barney would have been wary of. But Lee was one of a tiny number of people he could never make himself doubt. 

The day Lee turned on him was the day it didn't matter if he died. It wasn't born out of the booze: he knew damn well that truth was almost as old as their friendship; but actually thinking it out.. that was new. 

Staring at Lee when he grinned wasn't new, though he knew he usually tried to be unobtrusive about it. But tonight... tonight he couldn't do anything but stare. 

He remembered seeing Lee the first time, sitting alone in that dive in some hick bayou roadstop more dangerous than a lot of Calcutta holes. He'd looked like the ghost of Christmas future. Death looking for its hoe. But there had been something in him that had called to Barney, burned out by betrayal and too many Lone Ranger jobs.

What the hell had possessed him to buy the man a drink, he still didn't know. But he'd never been able to look back. 

Lee Christmas might have been suicidal that night, but by the time they'd geared-up and flown off together for Beirut a week later, death had somehow turned into a smile that changed his face from the kind of chameleon that spelled soul-death when the military or other security agencies got a hold of it, to the kind of beauty that no one with even a hint of a soul left could resist. And it turned out Barney Ross still had something in him that could latch onto that.

And never let go. 

No matter how hard he tried. 

Half a handful of times over the last 15 years, he'd gotten scared by some premonition of coming hell enough to want to keep the man away. He'd never managed it; Lee had turned out to be a stubborn and sneaky enough son of a bitch to withstand Barney's temper and keep reappearing just in time when Barney pushed him out.

Lee should definitely be used to his eyes on him. But this time he turned from whatever it was Toll had been saying that entertained him so much, and caught Barney's eyes. And the wide grin softened just a touch. Maybe even not at all; maybe it was just the eyes that changed. That sent him a thousand memories in one blink. That accepted his choices but still offered everything.

'I can't do this anymore,' he thought to himself, slightly surprised. 

Couldn't just accept Lee's continued life and occasional grins as his reason to live. He needed to know Lee was happy. Was.. wanted to live. That death had NO hold on him.

That his choosing to attach himself to Barney hadn't led, yet, to more darkness in his soul than he could bear.

He needed... Lee to actually know at least one person in this world needed him alive and well. *Needed* *him*.

He was moving toward Lee before any other thought could appear. It couldn't be more than 10 steps from his bike to the section of wall Lee and Toll and Caesar had ended up clustered at for some reason. It still felt like walking across the Gobi, an oasis full of the promise of life in the distance.

 

It was good to relax without some recent shit needing to be forgotten, or some coming shit to prepare for. Good to hang out, as easy as any of them got, enjoy the reality-hazing of some illegal booze, and chill with the people who understood you.

Coming across absinthe in one of the little shops of rare crap he sometimes found himself haunting when downtime lasted too long, Lee had been glad for the excuse to get the guys together. He knew he wasn't the only one whose life 'between' was something to get the fuck away from ASAP.

Including the brooding man he was always too aware of. Barney was too quiet, too distant. With sustained effort, Lee could make him include him in his thoughts, make him share at least a chunk of his load; and in turn, Lee was glad to have the recipient for his focus, could kick the demons into submission while he was needed.

And if he sometimes wondered what he'd do the day Barney didn't give in when they forced themselves back in his life after he chased them out, well, it was mostly an idle question. He knew the answer perfectly well.

But tonight was not that night, for all that Barney was in a particularly loner mood. He wasn't ignoring them, just.. quiet. And then Lee could feel him staring and he automatically turned to check on him.

..Sometimes, it was all Lee could do to stop himself from reading too much into Barney's fond looks. To stop the thousand and one moments they'd spent together, touches, teases, and, maybe more than all, the silences that were the opposite of the sound of his empty room, from making him wake from sleep with the certainty that he was supposed to be curled around Barney. 

This time, he was distracted by the strange look of faint surprise that crossed Barney's face, only to be followed with the man abandoning his lonely perch and walking toward him.

Lee turned fully and took a step away from the guys' conversation to wait for him, somewhere between curious and concerned at the oddly peaceful look. When Barney stepped right up in his space, he was slightly surprised, though not much. But then that fairly normal proximity changed to hands reaching for his head and Lee's brows raised. 

Soft lips on his made him blink in shock; but then he snapped to the reality and parted his lips to let in the tongue taking lazy licks at his mouth.

There was no wild hunger, no feeling of need to insist on dominance, or even passion; only relaxed affection, as though they'd always expressed their feelings this way. Lee slid his hands into Barney's hair and settled in to return the serious but undemanding touch of lips and tongue. 

He'd never thought to have this. Not outside daydreams. But Barney had seemed too peaceful all night to worry about the why. He would take the gift of more time with him. More chances to care for him. More.. of *this*.

When Barney slowly pulled a few inches back from the kiss after a minute, Lee stared at him a bit, licking his lips and allowing himself the pleasure of seeing slitted dark eyes follow the movement. Only marginally aware of the silence around them.

When Barney stayed quiet and still, Lee finally asked, soft but serious, "How drunk are you?" He didn't think it could be all that much, not unless Barney had been sneaking a heck of a lot of others drinks, and was hiding it well, but safer to ask.

Barney's response was a shrug and more of his quiet staring. From up close, Lee was glad to see there was no desperate 'could be the last time' to it, instead just.. some yearning that looked... old. An old prisoner escaped from shackles, and Lee silently cheered; burying under relief and pleasure his own faint disbelief at this new world offered to him on a platter.

"Maybe some."

Lee nodded a couple distracted times at that, but could see his eyes were clear enough of alcohol's grip. He smiled a bit, relishing the peace settling on Barney with every second they stood here. Then he stepped forward, pushing him back.

 

Barney blinked a bit to find himself forced to move, but he was used to responding to Lee's moves, including entirely unexpected ones when things went to shit in the field. So he backed up calmly enough, trusting Lee to guide him clear of anything, leaving his concentration on the touch of Lee's callouses catching in his hair, on the expression of almost-glee on his face. *He*'d put that there! Why had he waited so long??

Lee kept pushing him until his back gently encountered a wall. And then leaned in and kissed *him*, just as slow and unhurried as Barney had done.

Both entirely ignoring the rising sound of cheers, though Barney's eyes had enough of a slit to see the gang giving them approving looks over Lee's shoulder. They all turned away to raise their glasses before his eyes dropped closed all the way as Lee shifted his lips, dragging their heat and dampness in a slow stroke toward his cheek.

Dismissing everything but Lee, here, now, Barney's hands dropped and caught loose grips in the crisp cotton over his ribs, letting his head roll to the side in offering. There was enough alcohol in his blood to shut up his time-sense, and absolutely no inclination in his mind to interrupt the completely unexpected tenderness. 

He'd never had anyone do such a thing to him. Was used to showing his appreciation for his partner's beauty; had, on occasion, had partners interested enough to spend some time giving his ego a boost over his muscles. But damned if he'd ever had someone seem to lose themselves in his 'looks'.. in *him*.

He smiled a bit when he felt that bottom lip catching on some missed stubble in front of his ear, soft, wet flesh behind that lip rolling onto unexpectedly sensitive skin. Even lost in the sensual haze, *that* registered, and so did the hands in his hair tilting his jaw down, and the careful, dry pass over his eyelids.

So did the puff of air on his forehead from a whisper. "You still awake?"

It took a few second for Barney to get his sluggish muscles to respond, but he finally got his hands to let go of shirt material and drop to Lee's hips, tugging gently until the small space between them was gone. "Awake." Contrary to the few daydreams he'd allowed himself of their coming together, neither of them was physically aroused, but the closeness was too good to care.

Lee's chest shook in a silent chuckle against him, his lips tracing the old breaks misaligning Barney's nose, "You want to go home?"

The image that came to mind wasn't from his house, let along Lee's usual motel rooms. Neither of those utilitarian places would ever bother with a large four-poster bed, let along the kind of interior decorating that led to flowy white canopies like they used in well-off Caribbean islands. Where spending the day rolling in bed was practically *expected*.

Lips twisting at the foolish thought, Barney opened his eyes, meeting Lee's just as lazy ones, "Need to wake up before I try to drive."

Lee grinned, "You can ride with me."

Snorting at the picture, Barney countered, "Or you can drive the truck."

Lee pouted sadly, "I suppose that'd work too."

No more able to resist the man than he ever had been, Barney laughed at the posturing and leaned his head forward to whisper in his ear, "Have I ever told you how sexy watching you manoeuvre a vehicle is?"


End file.
